


Comfort

by TWDObsessive



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst, Caring, Crying, Did I mention Michonne dies?, Don't worry- Rick and Daryl don't die, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Hugs, Love Confessions, M/M, Major character death- Michonne, Soulmates, Touching, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-11 22:58:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10476447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TWDObsessive/pseuds/TWDObsessive
Summary: Michonne is killed in battle.  Daryl has to comfort Rick.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stylepoints](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stylepoints/gifts).



> So you know how Stylepoints always beta's for me and never asks for anything in return? Well, she mentioned subtly that she'd love a fic where Michonne dies so Rick and Daryl could be together. And by subtle, I mean she said "Any chance I can get you to kill Michonne?" followed by "Now about that death story I mentioned..." on the very next day. So, Voila! A surprise gift for my beta!
> 
> Unbeta'd because it's rude to ask someone to beta their own gift! :-P

I knew the war would take lives. I was willing to give mine, preferred to give it over anyone else's. I was prepared for it to be me, but I wasn’t prepared for it to be anyone else. I never am. On day one of the first battle, when Michonne went down with a clean shot to the head, I immediately added her to the list of names that I’d carry on my shoulders. Hershel. Beth. Denise. Glenn. Michonne. I owned those, they were mine. And the drive for vengeance on their behalf was what motivated me to keep going day after day. It wasn’t Michonne’s time. It should have been me.

Worse than seeing the blood spray from the back of her head as she fell from her sniper spot in a nearby tree was hearing the cry from Rick. The sun was setting and both army’s started pulling back for the night right after that fateful shot. Rick ran to Michonne and dropped to the ground by her side, eyes watering like liquid glass. I knelt beside him, put a hand on his arm as he wept. First Lori, then Jessie and now Michonne. Rick never handled the deaths of his lovers well and I had no reason to believe, despite his recent surge in strength and confidence, that he would get through losing Michonne unscathed. He’d need me. He always does.

I glared at the others that tried to get near Rick to keep them away until he had emptied himself of all the tears and sobs he had in him. “‘M sorry, Rick,” I said. “I… I didn’t see it coming. I-”

“Ain’t on you, Daryl,” he whispered as he gripped onto me for help getting up off his knees. “Told her we’d be able to go on without each other. Now I’m not sure if I was lying to both of us.” His voice was raw and pained and I wanted to do whatever I could to comfort him. I remembered all the recent times I needed _his_ comfort, after escaping from the sanctuary, after seeing Dwight in the Alexandria prison. His touch always brought me back to earth so I did what Rick would always do and put a hand on his shoulder, readying myself to pull him in for a hug if that’s what he needed. 

“I’d have taken her place if I could, Rick. I’m so sorry.”

Guess my words was wrong because he started sobbing again and fell against me in a clumsy hug. “No,” he whispered. “Of anyone, Daryl. I can’t lose you. You’re my constant.” I wasn’t really sure what it meant, but I held him tight as he grasped onto me, head tucked into the crook of my neck. 

“We need to bring her home, Rick. Bury her proper. She was the first to fall and she’ll be a hero in this war. Ain’t no one gonna never forget her.” I replayed Rick’s bad reactions in my head as I rocked him a bit and ran the palm of my hand over his curls like I do when I hold Judy. When Lori died, he saw hallucinations. When Jessie died he went out on a suicide mission to take on a town full of walkers alone with nothing but his hatchet and his anger. And now Michonne. And we ain’t got the luxury of time for him to grieve. We had to be ready at dawn to push forward towards the sanctuary. 

Gabriel knelt down by Michonne and whispered some mumbo jumbo about salvation. “I can help carry her body to one of the vehicles,” he offered. 

“No,” Rick said firmly. “Daryl and I got it.” He bent down and lifted her by the arms and I grabbed the legs and we walked in the dying day without words. What can we say anymore? It’ll be okay? It won’t be. Time heals all wounds? It don’t. Natural death was extinct now. No one dies of old age or natural causes. You are killed or murdered or bitten and that’s how you die. And there’s no soft way to give condolences to that.

“I’m not gonna lose my shit this time, Daryl,” Rick finally said.

“It’s okay to be-”

“No. Had to know we were gonna lose people. People we love. Could be me tomorrow. Or you.”

“Yeah, it could,” I said softly, wanting so badly to have my arms free again to comfort my friend. I remembered getting back to Hilltop after being captured when he hugged me and held me tight, I hadn’t realized how much I needed that contact until I was in his arms sobbing. He needs the same from me now. I can tell. Rick’s always been a toucher, giving eye contact and attention when it’s needed. 

Or does he just do that for me?

Once we had Michonne loaded into the bed of one of the trucks, I closed her eyelids and put a hand on Rick’s shoulder again. He leaned into me, forehead on my shoulder as the engines from the vehicles was singing all around us, everyone ready to get back to Alexandria and get ready for the next attack. 

“We need to get home,” I whispered to Rick as I walked him to the passenger side of the truck. He looked out the window on the ride home, his eyes empty, his shoulders slumped. I reached out again and put a hand on his knee. “What can I do, Rick?”

He shook his head. “I’ll be fine.”

“You will be,” I said trying to convince him of that. He looked at me as we drove through the Alexandria gates. 

“Be nice to not be alone tonight,” he said.

“I’m here.”

We dug a grave in the Alexandria cemetery, just me and Rick. We talked about the time that had passed. Neither of us could figure out how long it had been. We talked about the old days. Days of “we don’t kill the living” and “how many walkers have you killed, how many people”. We talked about more innocent times and how we’ve made it this far by one another’s side. Carol and Carl were the only other ones that were with us since the beginning. 

When we finally got back to the house, we needed to get sleep. The next day was the next day and we needed to be ready for anything. Rick stood on the bottom step looking at me as I was unrolling a blanket onto my sofa. I kept my eyes on his. Shit. Tomorrow could be his day. His grave. I stood up tall and sighed. “I’m not sure I could do this for you,” I said without even realizing what words was gonna fall out. 

“Do what?” 

“Dig your grave, bury you and go to sleep to fight another day.”

He gave me a nod and I could read in his eyes that he felt the same about me. All this time I been worrying over Rick when he loses loved ones, but it never dawned on me how he’d handle the loss of me. 

“You’ve always been the one, Daryl.” he said. “The one I wouldn’t be able to recover from.”

“We gotta. No matter what happens. If something… we gotta keep fighting,” I said. “For Carl, Judith.” 

We stood there for a while wordless, his eyes like glass again shimmering in the dim light from the moon out the living room windows. “Stay with me tonight?” he asked. 

I nodded and followed him as he headed up the stairs and I stood at the foot of the bed he’d been sharing with Michonne. In another world it would seem too soon to lay in a spot vacated so recently by a friend. But this was _this_ world. And it was dark and ugly and horrible and painful. And if Rick wanted the comfort of me by his side, I would give it to him. Because I didn’t know how much longer I’d be around to give him comfort... or how long he’d be around to give it to me.

**Author's Note:**

> Annnnd neither of them ever died and they both lived happily ever after! 
> 
> (Didn't expect this to end up so dark and existential. Sorry about that!)


End file.
